Jim, who had already earned an undergraduate degree and an MBA, was looking for a change in his career path so he enrolled in the University of Arizona and the RTIP to find his place in the racing industry. And that he did...
Not long after graduation Jim started with the Daily Racing Form (DRF) in Los Angeles as a field supervisor, then moved to the Phoenix office (during which time he held a number of management positions including national circulation director). He relocated to the New York office in 2000 when he was named Vice President of Circulation. This year Jim was named president and General Manager.
The RTIP congratulates Jim on his very successful career.
To many people in this country the winner of the Clay Puett Award is remembered as "THE" voice of The Wide World of Sports–ABC's cutting edge sports program of the day. As the host, JimMcKay covered the very tradional sports such as the Masters, the Indy 500 and the Triple Crown in addition to some sports considered pretty off the wall at the time, as we look back they were the "extreme" sports of yesteryear.
Covering the racing wasn't just part of the job; it wan't just an assignment for Jim, racing was his passion–especially racing in Maryland.
Jim's contribution to Maryland racing, the Maryland Million was an overwhelming success for Maryland but it didn't stop there. The idea of the big events centered around regional racing/breeding took off and flourishes across the country today thanks to the success of those early Maryland Millions. We have Jim to thank for that.
Although there is some legislative work to be accomplished, the odds are good that the next Million will bear the title "The Jim McKay Maryland Million" with the trophy presented to the winner of the classic officially being called the "Jim McKay Trophy."
It's safe to say that without this year's winner the RTIP could have been just a distant memory of a program that never really got off the ground. It's always said that a great program is more that just one person, but in this case it was just one person who took a little fledgling program under his wing and worked tirelessly (and creatively!) to make sure that it developed and grew. It was his dedication to this program in its early years that laid the foundation for all we have today.
In an office about the size of a box stall with no secretary and one typewriter, Gary Amundson was "chief cook and bottlewasher" for the RTIP (which was called the Race Track Management program at the time). He did it all, including taking time to be a mentor to the students.
During Gary's tenure at the U of A, many of the people working in the industry today were learning about racing; anxious to graduate and start a career.
Gary developed many of the opportunities that are just as important today as they were in the '80s. The internship program, the guest professors and even the matrix project (a project during which the students find that writing a condition book isn't as easy as it looks!)
We proudly present this award to Gary Amundson, former Coordinator of the RTIP.
Nikki DeBasio has been with the program her entire college career and has completed two internships with thoroughbred trainers. She is representing the students with whom she worked with on a special project looking at Gen Y and racing as a panelist on the Symposium panel session "Gen X, Y and Baby Boomers, Speaking to Racing's Diverse Audience" to discuss the groups' findings. Nikki also was honored with the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award for the Department of Animal Sciences.
Matt Carter already had one degree under his belt when he came to the RTIP looking to change his career path. (a few years in the biotech pharmaceutical field, he found it just wasn't for him.) So he hit the ground running with the RTIP. Matt completed an internship at Del Mar this summer, he works in the RTIP offices helping keep everything running smoothly, and has been the coordinator for the Mentor Lunch for the past two years.